Starboytwo:
you are not wrong, fitness is really the main thing actually... A very fit player is preferable to a skillful but less fit player... A fit player is a big plus for the whole team...

TheSuperNerd:
Gary Neville was speaking for himself not for all Biko. He cannot speak same for Edgar Davids or even a Cafu. That one na him personal matter.

And Nope... Van Basten on Haaland for me. Haaland can run all he likes... But Van Basten offers me not just stamina and very decent fitness but Finesse, Higher Football IQ and much more.

If na by covering distances... Our Nigerian U-17 boys in Brazil covered more distances than most teams they faced yet came home after the Round of 16. Covering distances does not cut it for me when it comes to picking a fit athlete for my team. E follow but it is not the ultimate. Nada.

TheGoodJoe:


Edgar David's good but Cafu was ideal player for this generation. However, they were few like him who knew the tricks and importance of real conditioned player.

Today, what Cafu had then, we have hundreds of players that have it and maybe even better than him. That explains why the current kids trump the old guards.

TheSuperNerd:
How many players of today has what Cafu has?

A rare monster fullback who can do it for 120 mins and boast world class football brains in his role. How many RBs has what Cafu had back then, today?

TheSuperNerd:
How many players of today has what Cafu has?

A rare monster fullback who can do it for 120 mins and boast world class football brains in his role. How many RBs has what Cafu had back then, today?

TheGoodJoe:


Have you watched Mendy and Kyle Walker play? These two guys are up and down the pitch in seconds. Sometimes you find them in attack and defence at split second intervals.

We have loads of very fit full backs. Watch Wan Bissaka, Robertson (who I feel is the fittest), Danny Rose impresses me a lot.

Koboko99:


The closest to Cafu in the modern game is TAA of Liverpool.

TheSuperNerd:
Na so. Walker?? Walker got nothing on Cafu. Walker is fit and a running beast but nothing special.
Even Carlos Alberto is levels above Walker in all aspects even in fitness. How Alberto got up and down the pitch was a marvel combined with his Football IQ.

Mendy is a LB. And he still falls behind great LBs of the game like R.Carlos and co. He should try staying fit for a full season then I can start taking him seriously.
Biassaka is all power and pace. Nothing special.

Robertson is indeed the only one I can point to that is vintage. A true fit LB with a highly cerebral brain for the beautiful game.

So you can see they aren't hundreds of Cafu, Carlos, Lizarazu, Carlos Alberto kinda fullbacks.

TheGoodJoe:


Back then, we admired the play. Today, showboating and displaying IQ through time on the ball is so reduced. It is all about team work and insane fitness. This, the new breeds like Walker, Robertson, Bissaka and Co trump.

Starboytwo:
I have read for like 10 pages back and here are my submission...

Firstly we should try to be civil in expressing our ideas Biko, the last few days has seen a surge of attack on a particular monika, we should try abeg... If I meet anybody on this thread outside, I will hug the person, I swear.... This place is my number 1 club now...


2- the 2nd issue is about the old gen vs new gen, i have read arguments, seen different views which are all legit, but one thing stands out, and I have seen such occurrence in the larger scheme of things... Nobody mentions Ronaldo de Lima, in all this back and forth comparism... Why? Why? Why? Imo that guy is the greatest player I have seen, and I've watched quite a few players, is it skills? Is it goal scoring, is it what? But nobody mention that Man... Or have you guys forgotten who Ronaldo is, the true Ronaldo... I grew up watching that man...I can't remember how I got the CD, but I have a best of Ronaldo back then, I eat and sleep that CD...He was my idol, he was the perfect striker... For Brazil, for psv,for inter, for Barca, for Madrid... See resume... Pls let's us be guided abeg...

I alsa watched a couple of cruyff and that man was very very very good, highly technical, probably the best technical player I seen, he even invented a particular dribble, I think it was in the Euros, which I adopted and I still use it when I see the opening, it never fails, expecially if the defender is sleeping....

Maybe we should define the best players by their Era's instead... If not where we want put

Zidane
Ronaldinho

P.s my old man also told me Pele played in Nigeria one time like that, I don't know... But I know his favourite player, SEGUN ODEGBAMI... The only clips of him I have watched is the Nations cup in 80's...

Cc Thesupernerd, (na Carlos Alberto score that monster outside shot right?)
Cc Thegoodjoe

Koboko99:


The greatest number 9 ever. Ronaldo Nazario De Lima is pure class. I watched best of Ronaldo and later watched him in France 98. That man was in a world of his own. I remember how he cried so much the day he announced he was retiring from football.

TheGoodJoe:


Have you watched Mendy and Kyle Walker play? These two guys are up and down the pitch in seconds. Sometimes you find them in attack and defence at split second intervals.

We have loads of very fit full backs. Watch Wan Bissaka, Robertson (who I feel is the fittest), Danny Rose impresses me a lot.

charlesemeka85:
Yea he is, the most complete no 9 I have ever seen in the game. Skillful, pacy, strong and prolific, de Lima is the greatest no 9 of all time.

My 2nd pick is van basten

TheSuperNerd:
Na so. Walker?? Walker got nothing on Cafu. Walker is fit and a running beast but nothing special.
Even Carlos Alberto is levels above Walker in all aspects even in fitness. How Alberto got up and down the pitch was a marvel combined with his Football IQ.

Mendy is a LB. And he still falls behind great LBs of the game like R.Carlos and co. He should try staying fit for a full season then I can start taking him seriously.
Biassaka is all power and pace. Nothing special.

Robertson is indeed the only one I can point to that is vintage. A true fit LB with a highly cerebral brain for the beautiful game.

So you can see they aren't hundreds of Cafu, Carlos, Lizarazu, Carlos Alberto kinda fullbacks.

Blueelf:


Exactly.

Then, I'll put Henry or Ibrahimovic in third position

Kbs468:

Don't mind Icon79 for counting the cupped international friendly between BRAZIL ARGENTINA as international trophy won by MESSI with even just one penalty rebound Goal to his credit

TheGoodJoe:


You think those guys can match Sane or Mane in fitness? Or do you see how effortlessly Mo Salah runs at fast pace?

Do you read how CR7 train for hours to maintain his fitness? What about the revolutionary diet those guys are on?

Those Brazilians will not even come close.

Look at some Pictures of Sane. This is not power-power body but high grade fitness.

TheSuperNerd:
Na so. Walker?? Walker got nothing on Cafu. Walker is fit and a running beast but nothing special.
Even Carlos Alberto is levels above Walker in all aspects even in fitness. How Alberto got up and down the pitch was a marvel combined with his Football IQ.

Mendy is a LB. And he still falls behind great LBs of the game like R.Carlos and co. He should try staying fit for a full season then I can start taking him seriously.
Biassaka is all power and pace. Nothing special.

Robertson is indeed the only one I can point to that is vintage. A true fit LB with a highly cerebral brain for the beautiful game.

So you can see they aren't hundreds of Cafu, Carlos, Lizarazu, Carlos Alberto kinda fullbacks.

charlesemeka85:
I will go for romario as 3rd

Schevchenko 4th and Henry 5th

TheSuperNerd:
You are right with your closing statement. In 2150 for example, people will water down what Messi and CR7 did in the second decade of the 21st century because they won't know them as much as they will know the player existing in their era. Only a few will actually take the time to look for clips and videos and watch for themselves and appreciate their genius. Same way we see today with Pele and Maradona.


But overall, we cannot deny the genius of these men, Pele and Maradona who played beautiful and exquisite soccer and still amassed great achievements even in the face of little protection unlike today where we see so much protection for players. In those days, playing Jogo bonito or total football was considered very risky business because you could get murdered onfield by die hards who wont just stand there and allow you show off fancy footworks. But today, you can show off those fancy footworks in peace and the Man who hacks you down is penalised for it big time. It is interesting how Pele and Maradona will fare in today's modern football where there is very good protection for classy players like them. Pele is everything CR7 and Messi are today combined. Pele had the athleticism, raw power and super stamina of CR7 combined with the effortless football mastery of Messi.

For me, I believe the soccer gods sent Pele back to us but by Dividing him into halves... One half is the athletic Pele (CR7) and the other half is artistic/mercurial Pele (Messi). I have watched enough of Pele and ofcos watched CR7 and Messi to come to such Poetic conclusion. Pele was simply something else bigger than something else.

TheSuperNerd:
Kayode's season stats so far
Clubside: Gazisehir Gaziantep, Turkey- Super Liga (Charles Biko bear with the name).


✓8 appearances
✓ 774 mins
✓ 3 goals
✓3 assists
✓A goal involvement every 129 mins


Not bad!

Mujtahida:

Modern football is tactically demanding but physically the kind of rough play Pele and down to Maradona endured, many players in this age are bubbles. Football is almost becoming a no contact sport.

Your last sentence is true in reverse.

Blueelf:


Shevchenko?

He should be 10th abeg

Mujtahida:

Like Truidstar said old football had a lot of rugby tackles which the players of today are protected from. Football is almost becoming a no contact sports.

Read about Andoni Goikoetxea Olaskoaga popularly known as the 'butcher of bilbao'

On 24 September 1983, Goikoetxea achieved notoriety for a foul on Diego Maradona described as "one of the most brutal fouls ever delivered in the history of Spanish football"[4] in a league match at the Camp Nou, taking out the Argentine from behind and breaking his ankle.[4] Maradona compared the sound he heard to that of wood breaking[5] and, in the aftermath, English journalist Edward Owen coined the phrase "Butcher of Bilbao" to describe Goikotxea,[4][5] a nickname which remained attached him for the rest of his career.
From Wikipedia

Clementoke:
Sunday Dare

"Advertising the coaching jobs for our football teams signals the beginning of the restructuring of Nigeria’s football administration. Only merit should count.The Ministry will shortly convene a football stakeholders open forum.Time to have an open conversation about our football"

andrewbaba44:


You even get power to follow them argue

As if any of them even watched Pelé and maradona

Blueelf:


A real gaffe

Messi has zero international trophy

charlesemeka85:
which means you don't know schevy. he performed and scored consistently in europe and serie A for so many years.

Blueelf:


I know him but still, I'll put henry above him.

Even inzaghi

Blueelf:


Based on your argument, you therefore have no moral standing to castigate those that support the oldies because you too never watched them play so, you can't assess if guys like theSupernerd or mujtahida are wrong or right.

Its their opinion